All posts by Bill Hutchison

The Invitation

Pray For Pyongyang, North Korea

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Join YWAMers around the globe in praying and hearing from God. He is inviting you!

Left to right, top to bottom: North Korea airport, Pyongyang Buildings, North Korea and South Korea Political Map with Capitals
Photo credits: IPE Zone, Earth Nutshell, Stock Vector

As hard as it is to imagine today, Pyongyang, capital of North Korea, used to be a center for Christian mission work throughout the Eastern world. According to the Voice of the Martyrs Canada website in 1907, a revival spread from Pyongyang across the Korean Peninsula and Pyongyang was called The Jerusalem of the East. As late as the 1920s, 90 percent of the Christians in Korea (North and South) lived in Pyongyang.

Listen:

Today, the environment of Pyongyang’s 2.7 million citizens (Operation World) is very different. They live in the nation that has been described by Open Doors as being the worst in the world for Christian persecution. It is also estimated that hundreds of thousands of people, including up to 100,000 Christians (Operation World), are being imprisoned in North Korea’s labor and concentration camps where conditions are so poor that as many as 75 percent of the prisoners do not survive (Fox News).

Please join with YWAM’s global prayer day, called The Invitation, during the month of December to pray for Pyongyang. You are particularly invited to pray during our prayer day, December 14.

If you have only a few minutes to pray, please note the eight minute video below and pray that the people of Pyongyang would experience the love and grace of Christ in the near term. If you are praying with a group or if you have more time to pray, please see below for the complete list of prayer suggestions.

Dancing in Pyongyang
Photo credits: Chattanooga Times Free Press

Prepare to Pray:

As you prepare to pray, take a few minutes to watch this short video. It is the moving testimony of Gyeong Ju Son, a young Christian whose father is one of thousands of believers imprisoned or killed for their faith. In listening to Gyeong Ju Son, consider her grief and loss. Take a few moments of silence as the video closes, and reflect on what could compel a young Christian orphan to dream of someday returning to North Korea, where persecution is all but certain. Ask the Holy Spirit to enable you to enter into this deep longing for her fellow North Koreans to know the love of Christ, which is stronger than fear, deeper than sorrow, and more precious than life itself.

As God draws your heart to feel something of His deep compassion for this nation, go ahead and pray using the points below to guide you.

Pyongyang’s Traffic Ladies
Photo credits: Free Malaysia Today

Pray for Pyongyang:

  • Pray that the gospel will spread throughout North Korea and that they will experience revival again as they did in 1907.
  • Pray for those in leadership within the government. Pray that God will open their eyes to the truth of the gospel. Pray for leaders to obey the will of God for their nation.
  • Pray for guidance for Christians in North Korea. Pray that they would not lose their faith despite oppression and the threat of death in concentration camps. Possessing a Bible, saying God or Jesus, and meeting as believers are all punishable by death. Pray that they would be bold in the midst of persecution.
  • Pray for spiritual, mental, and physical restoration of North Korean refugees. Many North Korean refugees go through torture, intense stress and anxiety during their escapes.
  • Pray for the people who are suffering in prison camps and for those who struggle to have daily needs met due to the isolation of North Korea.
  • Pray for the gospel radio programs of TWR and FEBC as they beam deep into North Korea.
  • Pray for Korean Christian businessmen from China who have easier access into North Korea.
  • Pray for those who labor among North Koreans around the world to preach the truth of the gospel boldly and clearly. Pray that the Holy Spirit would use their lives to demonstrate the gospel in a powerful way.
  • Praise God that in spite of the dire conditions in Pyongyang and across the region that the church is growing and people are coming to Christ.

 “Despite efforts to eradicate Christians, we have found the church in North Korea is actually growing . . . They know only God is powerful enough to break through the darkness of the most oppressive regime on earth.”

Vernon Brewer; Founder and President, World Help

Take Action:

Off Duty Soldiers in Pyongyang
Photo Credits: Daily Mail

Future Topics:

  • January 11, 2018 YWAM Foundational Values 1 – 3 (Know God, Make God known, Hear God’s voice)
  • February 8, 2018 Community Development
  • March 8, 2018 Entertainment Industry/Celebration Sphere

Don’t Miss The Invitation:

  • Sign up for prayer updates. Go to ywam.org, find the “Stay Connected” box on the home page, put in your email address and click “Sign Up.”
  • Download prayer updates in a specific language. Go to ywam.org/theinvitation. (Currently available in Spanish, Portuguese, French, Indonesian, Korean or request other languages.)
  • Join the conversation about how God is leading in these prayer times. Comment on the Facebook page on the second Thursday at facebook.com/youthwithamission or on Twitter @ywam, hashtag #praywithywam. You can also post a photo on Instagram and use the same hashtag, #praywithywam.
  • You can now listen to The Invitation as a podcast. To sign up or listen to past episodes, go to: ywampodcast.net/prayer.
  • If you sense God giving you a word or a direction for YWAM’s prayer, please contact us: prayer@ywam.org.

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The Invitation

Partner Churches

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Join YWAMers around the globe in praying and hearing from God. He is inviting you!

YWAM Queenstown DTS team at a YWAM Bangkok partner church: Khlong Toey Church
Photo credit: YWAM – All Nations Bangkok

God has commissioned the local church to go into all the nations and preach the gospel. As YWAMers, we could not do what we do without our partner churches. These partnering churches send us, pray for us, support us and alongside us for training, church planting, mercy ministry and other gospel-related activities. The relationship between the church and those who are sent is a beautiful partnership, one that God has chosen to change the entire world!

So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and increased in number daily.

Acts 16:5 (NKJV)

Please join with YWAM’s global prayer day, called The Invitation, this month to pray for our partner churches on November 9. We ask you to celebrate this partnership on a local level by praying for your partner churches, and if you sense God’s leading, by taking action to strengthen those relationships. If you have only a few minutes to pray this month, please pray for the health of your partner churches and that God would bring blessings to them. If you are praying with a group or if you have more time to pray, please see below for the complete list of prayer suggestions.

Serving Chai in Partnership with a Local Church Outreach
Photo Credit: YWAM Brisbane

Prepare to Pray:

Take a moment to bring to mind the congregation of your partner church, whether at home or in your present location. And then consider the lead pastor of this congregation.

What are all the things the pastor of a congregation such as this would have to think about, take responsibility for, or take care of? As a group, use a whiteboard or large sheet of paper to brainstorm all the ideas that come to mind in response to this question. Make note of as many things as you can.

Next, take some time to reflect on how such a pastor might feel about all these responsibilities, concerns, and opportunities. Enter into those feelings as much as you can.

Finally, as you hold before God these possible feelings and needs, ask Him how He might like to love, encourage, and strengthen this church leader through you. What comes to mind as a response, whether in prayer or in action? Share these ideas with one another and make a note, so that you can follow through on Holy Spirit’s prompting.

YWAM goals are realized while churches go forward. A true win-win situation.

Mark Nebauer

Pray for Our Partner Churches:

  • Praise God for successful partnerships that YWAM has had and is having around the world with local churches and sending churches.
  • Praise God for your partner churches.
  • Pray for the health of your partner churches and ask the Lord to bless them.
  • Pray for unity and healthy and equitable partnerships between YWAM locations and partner churches.
  • Pray for solid relationships between YWAMers and the people of the local church. Pray for YWAMers to make consistent commitments to the local church.

“The healthy cooperation of the local church and global mission is a major threat to the kingdom of darkness.”

Lynn Green, a YWAM leader

  • YWAM provides opportunities for churches to engage in mission through outreaches for church youth groups, serving opportunities for adults through Mission Builders, mission awareness programs, seminars for families, and more. Pray for long-lasting results.
  • Pray for the church to send more workers to the field where the needs are the greatest in less-saturated nations.
  • Pray for YWAM locations to understand and minister to the needs of churches and the congregations they serve.
YWAM’s Dan Baumann teaching at partner church Oakland Baptist
Photo Credit: Oakland Baptist Church
  • Pray for God to prepare churches in developed countries and in developing countries to send and support those called to Go.

Take Action:

  • Identify all of the partner churches that are involved with your location. Display a map with each church marked. Pray regularly for these churches.
  • Host a thank you event for your partner churches. Brainstorm on ways they can even partner with one another to build the church.
  • Schedule meetings with local partner churches and their pastors/leaders to listen to their needs and dreams without focusing on the needs and dreams of YWAM.

The best way to maintain a relationship with local churches is to concentrate on how we can serve them.

Lynn Green

  • Invite partner churches to send a DTS student to the next DTS at your location.
  • Identify local churches where there might partnership opportunities in the future but where none exist today.
  • Encourage staff and students at your location to regularly attend and participate at a local church.
  • Communicate partnering opportunities via YWAM channels, including, but not limited to:
  • Schedule an outreach event with one or more of your partner churches.
  • Offer to help one or more of your partner churches with a Mission Sunday type event to raise awareness within the church.
A partner church, Living Stones Christian Fellowship, praying over long term YWAM Richmond missionaries
Photo Credit: YWAM Richmond

How We Prayed

October 2017 – Prayer for the Hindu World

  • There was a lively discussion on Facebook about praying for Hindus. One person noted that they regularly pray that Hindus will know Jesus with not only their mind, but also with their heart.
  • YWAM Surabaya, Indonesia prayed for the Hindu world and asked for prayer for pupils to join their DTS starting January 2018 and for staff preparation.
  • YWAM Vanuatu, Oceania also prayed and asked for prayer for teachers that have a DTS background in education to come and teach children alongside locals.

Future Topics:

  • December 14, 2017 Pyongyang
  • 2018 Theme: YWAM Foundational Values (along with other topics)

Don’t Miss The Invitation:

  • Sign up for prayer updates. Go to ywam.org, find the “Stay Connected” box on the home page, put in your email address and click “Sign Up.”
  • Download prayer updates in a specific language. Go to ywam.org/theinvitation. (Currently available in Spanish, Portuguese, French, Indonesian, Korean or request other languages.)
  • Join the conversation about how God is leading in these prayer times. Comment on the Facebook page on the second Thursday at facebook.com/youthwithamission or on Twitter @ywam, hashtag #praywithywam. You can also post a photo on Instagram and use the same hashtag, #praywithywam.
  • You can now listen to The Invitation as a podcast. To sign up or listen to past episodes, go to: ywampodcast.net/prayer.
  • If you sense God giving you a word or a direction for YWAM’s prayer, please contact us: prayer@ywam.org.

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The Invitation

15 Days of Prayer for the Hindu World

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Join YWAMers around the globe in praying and hearing from God. He is inviting you!

2017 Hindu World Prayer Guide Cover Page
Photo credits: Friends Network

YWAM’s global prayer day, called The Invitation, will be a bit different in October. Instead of asking you to pray on the second Thursday of the month (or whatever works best for you) we are asking you to pray with us daily from October 8 to October 22 for 15 Days of Prayer for the Hindu World.

15 Days is an annual prayer movement that calls Christians and churches worldwide to take these 15 days to learn about and pray for our world’s one billion Hindus. This period encompasses the significant Hindu Festival of Lights called Diwali (or Deepawali). During this prayer focus, we invite you to take a posture of blessing toward Hindu peoples worldwide.

Please join with YWAM’s global prayer day, called The Invitation, during the month of October to pray for the Hindu world, from October 8 – 22. Informative prayer guide booklets are available on the 15 Days website (www.pray15days.org). To join the YWAM family in prayer in October, take a moment to download or order a booklet. Also, go to the 15 Days Facebook page (via pray15days.org) and like it. The purpose of 15 Days is to call Christians to make an intentional and respectful effort during this period to learn about, pray for and reach out to the Hindu community.

If you are not able to pray every day we invite you to pray during our prayer day, Thursday, October 12.

This is the second anniversary issue of The Invitation and we would like to take a moment to thank the people that have made this possible:

Translation: Yohan An, Seungjun Bahng, Kyoungmi Ko, Eunice Jo, Micaela Oliveira, Jessica Milanez Salve, Adelaide Santos, Isabela Ribeiro, Sharen Song, Renato Wong, French-language translator (name withheld for security reasons), and Yira Patricia Ibarra.

Spiritual Formation/Prepare to Pray: Miranda Heathcote, Tanya Lyons

Social Media: Daniel Norris, Mandy Stephenson, Jeremy Randall

Logistics and Podcast: Bill Hutchison

Manager and Writer: Laura Parli

Ideas: Lynn Green, Lynn Yee

Leadership: Bryan Bishop

Thanks also to YWAM leaders, prayer coordinators and others who have organized The Invitation at their location.

If you have only a few minutes to pray this month, please pray that Hindu people everywhere would be blessed through the Gospel and that God would move them towards Himself.

If you are praying with a group or if you have more time to pray, please see below for the complete list of prayer suggestions.

Prepare to Pray:

Speaking blessings over people and situations, and doing so in our authority as God’s children, is a powerful way of agreeing with His good purposes. Blessing prayer helps us to align our hearts with God’s good intentions and, as we see in scripture, blessings given by God and His people are powerful and effective.

As your group prepares to pray, stand together in a circle. You can divide into smaller groups if you are praying as a large community, or you can pray individually if you are alone. Take a moment to consider the Hindu World and God’s eternal purpose to reveal His love as Father, Son and Holy Spirit and to draw people into relationship with Himself.

When you are ready, go ahead and open in prayer: “Almighty God, as we stand in agreement with your loving purposes towards all people, help us by your Holy Spirit to speak powerful blessings over the Hindu world that will bear good fruit.”

Then go around the circle and allow a brief moment for each person to speak aloud a blessing; these can be very simple. It may help to imagine a particular man, woman, child or family and their need for Jesus. For example, someone might begin with, “I bless Hindu families with visitors who will speak to them of Jesus.” Or, “I bless Hindu communities with portions of scripture they can read aloud together in their language.”

When everyone has taken a turn, pause a moment in silence. Before continuing with your prayer time, allow your hearts to be softened and enlarged with a sense of God’s deep longing to bless Hindu people.

Hindu Prayer Bells and Group
Photo Credits: Friends Network

Pray for The Hindu World:

  • Pray that more disciples of Jesus would learn how to communicate the Good News to Hindus in ways that resonate with their hearts and minds.
  • Pray for bible translation and distribution in the Hindu world and the ending of bible poverty. Many Hindus do not have Scripture available in their language or do not have access to the Bible. Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know you are the Holy One of God” (ESV, John 6:68).
  • Pray that movements of Hindus towards Christ will emerge and grow in all types of Hindu communities.
  • Pray for the more than 2,000 YWAM staff who work in South Asia. Many of them work directly with Hindu peoples.

“Through prayer, we engage in an act of love for Hindu people around the world—sharing their burdens, understanding their concerns and petitioning God to reveal Himself to them.”

Friends Network

  • Praise God for the many people movements that have started amongst Hindu people.
  • Pray for the church in South Asia, that it will endure the recent increase in persecution and grow in hope, as the author of Hebrews wrote, “. . . . hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone . . . “ (ESV, Hebrews 6:18 – 20).
  • Pray for the 2,328 Unreached Hindu People groups (https://joshuaproject.net/religions/5) and that they will receive witnesses of Christ and turn to Him as their saviour.

Take Action:

  • Look for Hindus in your own community and find ways to engage with them. Eat a meal at an Indian or Nepali restaurant and get to know the wait staff.
  • Attend a YWAM Frontier Missions school or seminar (uofn.edu) or (ywamfm.com) to search for DTSes and secondary schools with a focus on the Hindu world.
  • Visit the International YWAM Frontier Missions website and Facebook (you can find both via ywamfm.com) to learn how to be trained and sent as a cross cultural missionary to the Hindu world.
  • Visit the YWAM Frontier Missions South Asia website and Facebook page to hear encouraging testimonies of what God is doing amongst Hindu peoples there and to learn about training and ministry opportunities (you can find both via www.ywamfrontiermissions.com).
  • Bring yourself and your team to the first Global Hethne (Hindu Ethne) Missions Congress in Thailand, October 12-17, 2020. Find more information at (hethne.org).
  • Consult the Joshua Project site that is dedicated to people groups of South Asia for prayer points (www.southasiapeoples.org).
  • Consult Operation World for more prayer points and to learn about Hindu peoples.
  • Read books to gain a greater understanding of Hindu peoples: Sharing Your Faith with a Hinduby Madasamy Thirumalai; Disciple Making Among Hindus by Timothy Shultz; Sundar Singh: Footprints Over the Mountains by Janet & Geoff Benge (YWAM Publishing) and Footprints of Faith: Stories of YWAM in South Asia by Sonya Svoboda.
  • Watch short promotional video from the 15 Days website (pray15days.org).

Photo credits: Friends Network

How We Prayed

September 2017 – DTS, Disciple-making

  • Friends Network – “The Invitation has been a great blessing to our mission, the Father’s heart and I am sure for those whom we have prayed.”
  • Several posted on Facebook that they prayed including one who prayed for the current DTS to be a blessing to many and that God would use all participants to bring revival and awakening of the Holy Spirt.

Future Topics:

  • November 9, 2017 Partner Churches
  • December 14, 2017 Pyongyang

Don’t Miss The Invitation:

  • Sign up for prayer updates. Go to ywam.org, find the “Stay Connected” box on the home page, put in your email address and click “Sign Up.”
  • Download prayer updates in a specific language. Go to ywam.org/theinvitation. (Currently available in Spanish, Portuguese, French, Indonesian, Korean or request other languages.)
  • Join the conversation about how God is leading in these prayer times. Comment on the Facebook page on the second Thursday at facebook.com/youthwithamission or on Twitter @ywam, hashtag #praywithywam. You can also post a photo on Instagram and use the same hashtag, #praywithywam.
  • You can now listen to The Invitation as a podcast. To sign up or listen to past episodes, go to: ywampodcast.net/prayer.
  • If you sense God giving you a word or a direction for YWAM’s prayer, please contact us: prayer@ywam.org.

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The Invitation

DTS, Disciple-making

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Join YWAMers around the globe in praying and hearing from God. He is inviting you!

Photo credits: YWAM San Diego

“The Discipleship Training School (DTS) is the foundational building block in Youth With A Mission, the cornerstone of the mission” says YWAM founder Loren Cunningham. Not only is our DTS foundational for YWAM, according to Elena Ciobo, a DTS coordinator, “It is the one part of our YWAM family that holds us together in unity amongst our great diversity.” Unique to YWAM is not only the diversity of our staff and students, but diversity of DTS programs focused on anything from motorcycles to surfers, starting in any month of the year, in locations from Alberta to Zimbabwe with over 65 different languages spoken. This is YWAM’s model for disciple-making.

And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. . . “

Luke 9:23 (ESV)

Please join with YWAM’s global prayer day, called The Invitation, during the month of September to pray for our DTS programs and the process of disciple-making. You are particularly invited to pray during our prayer day, Thursday, September 14.

If you have only a few minutes to pray, please pray for our current DTS students that they would be discipled well to be effective witnesses for Christ.

If you are praying with a group or if you have more time to pray, please see below for the complete list of prayer suggestions.

Prepare to Pray:

Before your prayer time, you are invited to participate in a reflection process using clay or play dough. The purpose of this time is to be reminded that our formation process does not end after DTS! All of us, including those staffing and supporting the DTS, continue to be in a process of becoming more like Jesus. This meditation – which might take about 20-30 minutes, including the time of feedback – can help us to posture ourselves as fellow learners, part of a discipling community whose teacher is God.

In order for everyone to take part, you will need to provide everyone with a small quantity of clay or play dough that is readily available from craft or toy stores, or easy to make using a recipe you can find online.

Take some time for everyone to begin working with the clay. Become familiar with its feel in your hands. Notice its texture and the way it both resists and yields to your touch.

You can then use this script to lead the group:

“Call to mind the creation story, where God shapes the human from clay, gently molding and shaping each fold and indentation. Take a few minutes to experience yourself as being molded by God.”

[Pause for a few minutes]

“Hold this image in your heart as you continue to mold the clay. Notice how it feels in your hands. Notice the feelings and/or images that emerge for you. As you handle the clay, feel free to form it into a particular shape if one comes to mind.”

[Pause for a few minutes]

“Reflect on how you experience God shaping and forming you. Where are the places in your life that feel resistant and where are you malleable? Work with the clay for a while, engage in the process and pay attention to what comes to you, without censoring yourself.”

[Pause for a few minutes]

“Continue to hold the questions in your heart of how God is shaping and forming you. When you have come to a sense of rest with the clay process, take a few moments to gaze at the object you have formed. What has this process revealed to you? How have you felt God moving in you during this time?”

Allow a time of silence for reflection or journalling. Then give the opportunity for people to share with a partner the ways God spoke to them during this time. After a few minutes of sharing in pairs, give an opportunity for feedback in the larger group. You might like to close with some prayers inviting the Spirit of God to continue forming and shaping you, as individuals and as a community.

(This exercise was drawn from the work of Christine Valters Paintner and Betsey Beckman, in their book ‘Awakening the Creative Spirit.’)

From left to right: DTS Leader; Darlene Cunningham Teaching Belief Tree to a DTS. Photo Credits: YWAM Vancouver and YWAM Kona

Pray for DTS, Disciple-making:

  • Praise God for our diversity of students and staff and for the diverse DTS programs we are able to offer.
  • Pray for DTS students to be challenged to embrace their true identity in Christ.
  • Pray for DTS students to obtain clarity regarding their holy calling.
  • Pray for strength of character for DTS students.
  • Pray for students to obtain a greater understanding of God and of His Word.
  • Pray for potential students to find a good match for a DTS program.
  • Pray for overall health of YWAM’s DTS program so that the strength and future of YWAM is solid.

“As the DTS goes, so goes the mission.”

Darlene Cunningham, YWAM Co-founder

  • Pray for our DTS leaders and staff around the world that they would increasingly be trained and equipped in their roles in order to effectively disciple and train others.
  • Pray for the International DTS Centre personnel that they would find relational favor within the YWAM family as they continue to serve, support and strengthen our DTS.
  • Pray that each of the 100s of DTSes that we offer would stay true to the YWAM vision, values and ethos.
  • Pray for biblical discernment in disciple-making within YWAM.
  • Pray that YWAMers would be fruitful in making disciples.
DTS Outreach Phase; Photo credits: YWAM Perth

Take Action:

  • Share the YWAM primary website regarding DTS with a young person who has never done a DTS. Challenge them to take this step. Pray for them. ywam.org/dts
  • During the next DTS at your location find a new DTS student and sit down with them and pray for them.
  • Reach out to a YWAM location with whom you have little or no contact and ask them how you can pray for their current or next DTS.
  • For more information contact YWAM International DTS Centre www.ywamdtscentre.com
  • Review material about DTS and disciple-making at other YWAM locations. Identify three things you could to do improve the DTS at your location.
  • Spend a season with another location to experience their DTS program.
Left to right: Ready for outreach phase in the Cook Islands, and on outreach from YWAM Blantyre, Malawi
Photo Credits: YWAM Cooks and YWAM Blantyre

How We Prayed

August 2017 – Families, Singles and Marriages

  • 190 people reacted to The Invitation on Facebook. It was shared 39 times. One person in particular noted the importance of praying for singles.
  • YWAM Canberra also shared a photo of their prayer time over on Instagram using the hashtag #praywithywam.
Intercession morning! Discussing and praying for one another and all the diverse people in YWAM

Future Topics:

  • October 12, 2017 The Hindu World (The Invitation’s Second Anniversary issue)
  • November 9, 2017 Partner Churches
  • December 14, 2017 Pyongyang

Don’t Miss The Invitation:

  • Sign up for prayer updates. Go to ywam.org, find the “Stay Connected” box on the home page, put in your email address and click “Sign Up.”
  • Download prayer updates in a specific language. Go to ywam.org/theinvitation. (Currently available in Spanish, Portuguese, French, Indonesian, Korean or request other languages.)
  • Join the conversation about how God is leading in these prayer times. Comment on the Facebook page on the second Thursday at facebook.com/youthwithamission or on Twitter @ywam, hashtag #praywithywam. You can also post a photo on Instagram and use the same hashtag, #praywithywam.
  • You can now listen to The Invitation as a podcast. To sign up or listen to past episodes, go to: ywampodcast.net/prayer.
  • If you sense God giving you a word or a direction for YWAM’s prayer, please contact us: prayer@ywam.org.

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The Invitation

Family, Singles, Marriages

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Join YWAMers around the globe in praying and hearing from God. He is inviting you!

Left to right; top to bottom: 1) Quote from Marian Jordan Ellis, 2) Celebrating the marriage of two YWAMers. 3) YWAM Family Ministries Forum in Asia, Photo credits: YWAM Family Ministries; Andrea Howey (Flickr); YWAM South Sudan.

God speaks to all of us through the Bible and other means in all stages of life and gives instructions for how to live in different stages: as singles, as married couples, as part of a family. God gives each of us, no matter our status, a holy calling (2 Timothy 1:9). The Bible is full of stories about people who are single, married spouses, and families and how He used them for His good purpose.

But how does this fit in with our work on the mission field? How do YWAMers in different stages and statuses of life, with different needs, come together to fulfill God’s purposes? How do we minister to non-believers who are in a different stage than we are?

And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. . .

Please join with YWAM’s global prayer day, called The Invitation, during the month of August to pray for family, singles and marriages. You are particularly invited to pray during our prayer day, August 10.

If you have only a few minutes to pray, please lift up all YWAMers regarding their stage in life. Pray for contentment regarding stage of life; unity regarding differences; wisdom and provision. Pray for God to strengthen YWAM ministries through a greater understanding of the needs of people in different stages of life.

If you are praying with a group or if you have more time to pray, please see below for the complete list of prayer suggestions.

“Please don’t wait for marriage” blog. Photo credit: YWAM Montana Lakeside

Prepare to Pray:

If you are praying with others, consider taking some time to discuss these questions before you pray. If you are praying alone, you could journal your own responses to the questions:

  • What are some things that make you personally grateful to be single, or married, or a family in mission?
  • What are some of the challenges of being single, or married, or a family in mission?
  • What have you learned as you have related to those who are single, if you are married; or married, if you are single; or from those who have kids if you don’t? Feel free to be specific with the people in your prayer group.
  • In what ways do you experience the diversity of people in your teams (singles, couples, families) as something that strengthens the ways you can reach out to others? Give thanks for that diversity.

Pray for Family, Singles and Marriages:

  • Praise God for this stage of your life (family, single, married) and reflect on the ways that your ministry is enhanced due to your current status.
  • Pray for those at your location who have a different status than you currently do. Reflect on what their challenges might be.
  • Pray for guidance on how to include and take care of everyone – couples, singes, young people, old people, and children in a way that lives out the Gospel.
  • Pray for wisdom, resources and adequate training for those within YWAM who provide member care to others.
  • Pray for recognition by YWAM leaders of the needs and challenges facing each group of YWAMers and for recognition of differences from area to area. Pray for fairness and equity for housing, leadership positions, ministry opportunities among all regardless of current status.

Singles

  • Pray for singles in YWAM and that they would stand firm against Satan regarding purity.
  • Pray for balance between ministry and social life. Pray for staff and leaders to not make decisions just because someone is single. (For example, assuming it is easier for them to travel.)
  • Pray for our singles to not feel lonely and isolated.
  • Pray for provision (financial and other) for our singles. Expenses for singles can be close to that needed by married couples and they may not have as many contacts.

 Marriages

  • Pray for YWAM couples to be anchored in the Lord as individuals.
  • Praise God for the ways He unites cross-cultural couples. Pray for wisdom regarding differences.
  • Pray for YWAM couples who have or are experiencing difficulties regarding fertility, pregnancies and post-pregnancies.
  • Pray for sexual purity for our YWAM marriages.
  • Pray for unity of married couples in purpose and vision for ministry and family matters.
  • Pray for wisdom in handling time away from one another due to travel, leadership responsibilities, etc.

Family

  • Pray for all YWAMers to sense they are part of “the family” at all YWAM locations.
  • Pray for security and peace for YWAMers who are away from their primary or extended families frequently or for extended periods of time.
  • Pray for resources and guidance for YWAMers in educating and caring for their children.
  • Pray that the children of our staff would receive clarity regarding ministry.
  • Pray for grace to set our priorities right. (Investing into our own marriage, investing in our children, being a family in missions, investing in others, etc.)
  • Pray for balance between discipline and love where there are challenging family issues including adoption, health concerns, behavioral concerns and others.
YWAM Family Encounter Day. Photo credit: YWAM Family Encounters.

Take Action:

Families in Ministry book is now available in multiple languages.
Photo credit: Angela Zeidler-Fresz, YWAM Family Ministries International
  • Research ministry opportunities for singles.
  • Attend a marriage weekend. See YWAM St. Croix for an example: https://www.ywamstcroix.org/marriage-ministry
  • Teach a marriage class to the current DTS students at your location.
  • Seek a mentor-type relationship with another married couple.
  • Share on facebook.com/youthwithamission, post a picture and add a comment about how you prayed.
  • Go to twitter.com; search for #praywithywam and tweet about your prayer time/post a picture. You can also post a photo on Instagram and use the same hashtag, #praywithywam.
  • Send an email to prayer@ywam.org letting us know how you prayed and what God revealed to you.

How We Prayed

July 2017 – Two-Thirds-World Workers, Financial Support

  • There was enthusiastic support for this topic on Facebook. One individual exclaimed: “YWAM is a step ahead, well done!”

Future Topics:

  • September 14, 2017 DTS, Disciple Making
  • October 12, 2017 The Hindu World (The Invitation’s Second Anniversary issue)
  • November 9, 2017 Partner Churches

Don’t Miss The Invitation:

  • Sign up for prayer updates. Go to ywam.org, find the “Stay Connected” box on the home page, put in your email address and click “Sign Up.”
  • Download prayer updates in a specific language. Go to ywam.org/theinvitation. (Currently available in Spanish, Portuguese, French, Indonesian, Korean or request other languages.)
  • Join the conversation about how God is leading in these prayer times. Comment on the Facebook page on the second Thursday at facebook.com/youthwithamission or on Twitter @ywam, hashtag #praywithywam. You can also post a photo on Instagram and use the same hashtag, #praywithywam.
  • You can now listen to The Invitation as a podcast by clicking on the player at the bottom of this email. To sign up or listen to past episodes, go to: ywampodcast.net/prayer.
  • If you sense God giving you a word or a direction for YWAM’s prayer, please contact us: prayer@ywam.org.

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